similarities between North and South states

• shared government and history

• becoming wealthier

• language

• religion

  • The Protestant religion was the most shared

• literate → newspaper

differences between North and South states

• economics: south → slave labor, plantation agriculture, cash crop → cotton; north → factories: 1st Industrial Revolution, Market Revolution → commerce, and free labor

• perception

  • North and South see that they are both very different (this is what they believe)

  • they also think of different stereotypes of each other

  • the North described the South as this:

    • greedy

    • self-righteous

    • busy-bodies

    • extremists

  • Southern stereotype:

    • people are dumb, violent, cruel, and lazy

    • dumb because slaves are illiterate

    • violent and cruel because slave owners abuse their slaves

    • lazy because they depend much more on slaves and don’t do the work themselves

  • the people say that the slaves have become an economic and political problem rather than a moral problem

  • peculiar institution → an institution unique to Southern society

  • reasons to justify slavery:

    • good for the slaves

    • argue that the Bible agrees with slavery, so slavery is a good institution

      • if you oppose slavery, you oppose God

    • historically sound (right) because every ancient story has used slavery

California Gold Rush

• people saw that this was a fortune for finding gold

• they are ready for statehood very quickly

• California had a diverse economy and didn’t need slaves

  • they were admitted as a free state

The Compromise of 1850

• the problem

  • California wanted to be a free state, but most of its territory was in the South

  • we don’t have a slave state to bring California into the U.S. and the Senate controls three of the branches and gives legislative power to let them be a free state

• the debate

  • John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster lead the debate

  • they were not as popular as the Founding Fathers, but they were compelling

  • Clay wants to compromise one more time

  • Calhoun says no California or secession

  • Webster says union at all costs

• the compromise

  • this is the worst compromise Clay has made and everyone hates him

  • reasons why the South hates this compromise:

    • California is admitted as a free state, which gives control of Congress of both houses to the free state

    • domestic slave trade in Washington, D.C., will be banned

      • Washington, D.C. is not included as a state (not a slave nor free state)

  • reasons why the North hates this compromise:

    • Mexico and Utah will use popular sovereignty to determine the status of slavery

    • only they get to decide on the status of slavery

    • part of the reason is because they will pass the fugitive slave act (1850)

Fugitive Slave Act, 1850

• it is meant to enforce the fugitive slave clause strictly and to guarantee the runaway slave clause

• 4 terms:

  • alleged runaways no longer get a jury trial to determine their status

  • the judge gets a bigger paycheck if they rule in favor of the slaves

    • this is similar to legal bribery

  • federal police officers are required to actively help slave catchers

  • every citizen is required to help slave catchers

• Northern Reaction

  • they cannot believe this law and hate it

  • the North passed a law called Personal Liberty Laws

    • these were state laws passed to NOT follow the fugitive slave act

    • they are trying to nullify the fugitive slave law

• Southern Reaction

  • the South is displeased

  • membership of the underground railroad is going to drastically increase

    • Harriet Tubman → born a slave in Maryland, ran away by herself in 1849 successfully, became a conductor of the Underground Railroad, 19 trips down south to help slaves, and never got caught, brought 70 slaves to freedom, and was so successful that she gained the title “Black Moses”

    • Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe

      • Stowe was an abolition and wrote this book because she was angry about the fugitive slave act

      • In the book, she describes the evilness of slavery in a way to makes someone cry

        • She describes the Abolitionist Movement as evil and destroying families

        • Sold out often and the number of abolitionists increases

      • The South is enraged by this book because it paints them as horrible people

      • The North loves the book and fully supports it

    • The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

      • Senatore Stephen Douglas → represents the state of Illinois and is a democrat

        • Concerned about sectionalism

        • Came up with an idea to unite the states, making the Transcontinental Railroad which is a railroad that expands across the country

          • Make sure the railroad makes a stop in Chicago first before using it regularly

      • 3 terms to the Kansas-Nebraska Act

        • Repeal (cancel) the Missouri Compromise line

        • He divides the territory into Kansas and Nebraska

          • These territories get to use popular sovereignty (allowing the states to either be free or slave states)

      • Unintended consequences because of this law

        • People’s faith in compromise die

          • Compromising was not permanent

        • It increased anti-slavery in the North

        • Northern states think the Southern states are given too much power

        • Lead to the creation of the republican party

          • If you opposed slavery, you joined the republican party and only found in the North

      • “Bleeding Kansas” (1854-1856)

        • Pro-slavery border ruffians are going to Kansas, abolitionists move to Kansas at the same time to vote illegally on election day

        • The two groups fight for 2 years

        • This is the first time people have seen white Americans fight over voting rights

      • Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)

        • Charles Sumner was a senator from the North and an abolitionist

        • He gave a speech about “Bleeding Kansas” toward the South as a whole

        • Preston Brooks is a representative from South Carolina

          • One of the insults is made to Brooks’s cousin

          • Brooks beat Sumner because he insulted Brooks’s cousin with his walking stick

          • The South is happy while the North thinks that the Southerners are crazy, violent people

          • The South called Sumner a “crazy womanly coward”

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

• background

  • he was a slave himself and his owner would travel between Illinois and Wisconsin often

    • both of those states are Northern states which ban slavery

      • they sued the owner for bringing Scott to a Northern state and automatically made Scott a free person

• SCOTUS ruling

  • Roger Taney was the Supreme Court chief justice during this time

    • Taney says slaves are not citizens, therefore they cannot sue anyone

    • since slaves are property, there should not be any laws that restrict the ownership of slavery

• South reactions

  • they are happy and think they win

  • the South became more enraged because the North didn’t support the law made by Taney

• North reactions

  • they are enraged by this ruling

  • they think there’s a Slave Power Conspiracy in the South (the belief that slaves secretly control the government)

  • James Buchanan pointed out he was a northern democrat, but he supported the idea of slavery

  • the North declares that the law is invalid and they do not follow this law, acting like it doesn’t exist

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

• Abraham Lincoln → Republican vs. Stephen Douglas → Democrat

  • Lincoln becomes very popular in a short amount of time

  • Douglas’s answer in the debate is known as Freeport Doctrine

    • Douglas says that the people should be able to make the decisions to popular sovereignty

    • the democrats are not a party anymore and it creates division between the parties

  • Lincoln gives a speech called “A House Divided”

    • cannot continue states to be half slaves and half free

    • Lincoln wants to stop spreading slavery to the western territories

      • his viewpoints on slavery are going to adapt over time

• post-debates

  • William Seward gives a speech called “Irrepressible Conflict”

    • there is a fight coming and there is no way to stop it

    • North and South are divided more than ever before

    • Seward is an abolitionist

    • every southerner believes that every Republican is a radical abolitionist who is out to get the South

    • we have Northern and Southern Democrats

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)

• the U.S. Army has weapons stored in Harpers Ferry

  • it is located in Virginia, a small town, and storage for the U.S. Army

• Brown is a radical abolitionist

• he planned to lead a slave rebellion from Harpers Ferry because there were a lot of weapons

  • this plan is going to fail

    • they are surrounded by Marines under leadership of Colonel Robert E. Lee

  • the Marines put an end to this very quickly and Brown is captured

  • the state of Virginia puts Brown on trial for treason

    • he is found guilty and will be executed in Virginia

    • Brown is held up as a martyr (someone we should admire)

    • after being martyred, a fight will break out

Presidential Election of 1860

• candidates

  • Abraham Lincoln → Republican nominee for president because of the Lincoln-Douglas debate

  • John Breckinridge → southern democrat

  • Stephen Douglas → northern democrat

  • John Bell → union

• Abraham Lincoln and the republican party says no slavery in the territory there would be internal improvements

  • he also says to not expand slavery and leave the slave states alone

• John Breckinridge says that we must follow the Supreme Court and protect slaves

• Stephen Douglas promises popular sovereignty

• John Bell just says to leave slavery alone

• outcome

  • Lincoln has the best shot at winning because the Democrats are split

  • there was a lot of secession and Lincoln was able to win the votes without the South

secession, December of 1860

• 1st wave → South Carolina has officially seceded from the union because Lincoln won

  • after South Carolina did this, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama left too

    • the South has mostly seceded and they are angry about Lincoln’s election

• Confederate States of America

  • the states themselves will be the primary

  • they gave the states more power and protection, but they copied the Articles of Confederation

  • they elected another president named Jefferson Davis

  • Lincoln believes that secession is illegal, the CSA is invalid, and it is his job to preserve and protect the union

The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 1861)

• war

  • confederates fired upon Fort Sumter which marked the beginning of the Civil War

• 2nd wave of secession → Lincoln’s job is to protect his people and put an end to this rebellion (response to Fort Sumter)

  • Lincoln called for evasion and the four southern states seceded from the Confederacy

Union vs. Confederacy

• advantages and disadvantages

  • advantages for union: they have a bigger population, more railroad signs, and will have a stronger economy

    • the economy is so big that they can supply the military without the government’s help (these are disadvantages for the confederacy)

  • advantages for confederacy: they are fighting from their homes (defending home is a more concrete motivator)

    • confederate armies get to operate on interior lines

    • they do not have to move a lot

    • they don’t have to win and have to fight long enough until the union says they don’t want to fight anymore (a tie is good enough)

The Homefront

• women at war

  • northern women

    • most of the union women were not married

    • they formed aid societies (they would help and comfort soldiers in the army)

    • middle-class white women work for the government and this is the first time women would take over men’s jobs

• after the war is over, not only would women continue to work, but the number of women working is going to increase

  • southern women

    • confederate women’s jobs would be harder if they were working on farmland

    • they work to aid societies

    • urban working-class women would work in an ammunition factory

    • they are fighting in their homeland

• women become nurses during the war

  • Dorothea Dix is in charge of all union female nurses

The Battle of Antietam (1862)

• Robert E. Lee was the Confederate chief general and rarely lost battles

• “America’s Bloodiest Day”

  • the battle ends and Lee retreats

• Emancipation Proclamation

  • the victory was just enough for Lincoln to publish this

  • if they wanted to ban slavery, they had to redo the constitution

  • the Emancipation Proclamation does not do anything much, but it frees Confederate slave states

  • it offers clarification roles

The Battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg (1863)

• significance

  • they win BOTH battles

  • this grants control of the entire Mississippi River

• the Gettysburg address

  • an encouragement for Americans to keep fighting and it clarifies the goal of the Union war effort

• Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman

  • Lincoln puts Grant in charge of the Union army

  • Sherman is also in charge of the Confederate army

• hard war

  • hammer the Confederate armies

  • confiscate or destroy the civilian territory

The Battle of Appomattox Court House (1865)

• war ends

  • Lee has to end up surrendering

    • this marks the end of the civil war

    • the Union side wins and the South is defeated

• human and material costs

  • 600,000 soldiers died in this battle

  • confederates lose 2/3 of their wealth during the Civil War, meaning it is completely wiped out

  • Union got wealthier by 50%

The Assassination of Lincoln (April 1865)

• on Good Friday of 1865, Lincoln is attending a play and John Wilkes Booth kills President Lincoln in the middle of the play

Presidential Reconstruction

• Abraham Lincoln

  • put his proposed plan to reconstruct the nation called the 10% plan

  • 13th Amendment

    • needed to be ratified for the plan to work

  • 10% Plan

    • 10% of the state population had to pledge their loyalty to the union and then they would be allowed to create new state constitutions

  • assassination

    • the 13th Amendment was ratified after and it says that slavery is illegal in the U.S.

• Andrew Johnson

  • mostly trying to continue Lincoln’s plan

  • 10% Plan

    • keeps this but adds his elements to it

    • he insists that the southern states ratified the 13th amendment, which required the seceding states to hold new constitutional conventions and create new state governments

  • new state governments

    • had to repeal secession statements and abolish slavery

  • black codes

    • keep African Americans or former slaves in a subordinate role in Southern society

    • they also try to recreate the coerced labor system

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866

    • meant to guarantee black citizenship rights

    • Johnson vetos the law and for the first time, Congress overrides Johnson’s veto

    • Congress decides that Johnson is too weak when it comes to the South AND amendments

  • 1st Ku Klux Klan

    • terrorist organizations

    • their goals were to destroy the Southern Republican Party to prevent former slaves from exercising any newly acquired rights and freedoms

    • over 6 years, they are going to kill about 20,000 men, women, and children across the South

  • radical republican party

    • radical Republicans desire to create “a republic free from the burden of racism”

      • this puts them in charge of the congressional reconstruction

Congressional/Radical Reconstruction

• Reconstruction Act of 1867

  • all the state governments created under Johnson’s plan should get rid of them

  • there is a military occupation of the South

  • they require the former Confederate states to register all qualified black and white voters

  • new voters are going to elect delegates to a state convention that will write a new state government

• Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment

  • impeach the president

  • found not guilty by one vote

    • this is inconsequential for the rest of his term

• 14th Amendment

  • ratified in July 1868

  • defines citizenship as including anyone who is born or naturalized in the country regardless of race

  • it prevents states or the federal government from denying the right to citizenship without a process of law

  • nullifies the Dred Scott decision

• 15th Amendment

  • ratified in April 1870, prohibits states and the federal government from denying somebody the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude

• Changes to Southern Society

  • scalawags and carpetbaggers

    • scalawags were poor southern whites supporting the republican party in the south

      • they were called traitors

    • carpetbaggers were white northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War who also typically supported the republican party

  • The Freedmen’s Bureau

    • under Grant’s presidency, helped transition the South into a free labor system after the Civil War, and the greatest success is black education

    • they are not going to transition the South into a market successfully based commerce economy

  • Sharecropping

    • partly driven by economic necessity

    • big plantation owners will divide up their land into smaller plots and are going to rent out those plots of land to poor whites and former slaves

    • the land-owners are going to provide the land, seeds, and tools as a “loan”

    • sharecroppers paid their rent by a “share” of their crops

  • republican governments

    • civil rights laws passed meant to protect the rights of former slaves, establish a public school system, and rebuild a lot of infrastructure

    • because of this, it is really expensive to make taxes dramatically higher and make the parties extremely unpopular

• Northern Disinterest Grows

  • economic recession early to mid-1870s and northerners became more concerned with fixing the economy than they were with protecting the rights of former slaves in the South

• 1876 Presidential Election

  • Rutherford B. Hayes

    • removes troops from the South and officially declares reconstruction to be over and that the federal government is no longer going to intervene in Southern political affairs

  • “Redemption”

    • southern democrats are going to regain control of the state governments through massive voting fraud (1877)

    • voting fraud

      • destroy ballots cast by African Americans and stuff the ballot box with their people where they take over every Southern state government

      • deny citizenship rights to African Americans

    • voting restrictions

      • poll taxes and literacy tests on African Americans

    • Jim Crow Laws

      • laws designed to keep African Americans and white Southerners in separate public spaces

      • goal is to maintain a society based on white supremacy